[lee09]

Think of it this way if i was trad and a guy on an estate charged £5 a house and i charged £5 we are offering the same service for the same price in the customers eyes. The only thing seperating our businesses is reliability, frequence of cleans, quality of work and whether or not we clean frames.

With WFP every system does the same things. You wash the windows and frames and thats the service. Depending on your frequency you dont have a unique selling point other than price if you are in competition with another window cleaner using a wfp system. This is when price wars will seperate you from competition.

That is true to a point, but people buy people.
If you are the same in every respect of work but you ask how they are or how their family is, the business is yours to keep.
Quality is not just in our work it is also how we deal with people and people will pay a little more if they feel that they are treated well.
I do not think everyone wants to save a pound or two.
Lee

[Ste M]

Think of it this way if i was trad and a guy on an estate charged £5 a house and i charged £5 we are offering the same service for the same price in the customers eyes. The only thing seperating our businesses is reliability, frequence of cleans, quality of work and whether or not we clean frames.

With WFP every system does the same things. You wash the windows and frames and thats the service. Depending on your frequency you dont have a unique selling point other than price if you are in competition with another window cleaner using a wfp system. This is when price wars will seperate you from competition.

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

[formb]

thing is though,if you come up against a big business who has blokes working for him,and he charged £6 a time and they did 3 an hour and gave his employee £7-8 an hour hes still making profit,so they might not go away as quickly thought,as some 1 says,business is business,look after number one

I have to disagree on this point. I employ people but I find (especially more recently) that employing people actually puts running costs up.

Not many solo window cleaners charge VAT for instance thats 17.5% up the swannie before you've even looked at fleet insurance (£6750). Then you have employers NI to consider.

Don't assume because someone employs others his profit margins are somehow wider than yours.

[forest]

Have to say that i am a commerial window cleaner and pricing is key. You aim to win business off others...However i have always had a problem with undercutting on domestic work. Seems more personal to me. I know many will say 'business is business' but my moral code would not allow me to undercut another and yet for commercial work nothing feels better than to win work in the same way.

~Ive just bought into a domestic round and we have already made a clear management decision that we are going to expand the round but if we call on a home where they have a window cleaner then we will walk away!

Just not that desperate for work!

[formb]

Have to say that i am a commerial window cleaner and pricing is key. You aim to win business off others...However i have always had a problem with undercutting on domestic work. Seems more personal to me. I know many will say 'business is business' but my moral code would not allow me to undercut another and yet for commercial work nothing feels better than to win work in the same way.

~Ive just bought into a domestic round and we have already made a clear management decision that we are going to expand the round but if we call on a home where they have a window cleaner then we will walk away!

Just not that desperate for work!

Good man

 

[dazmond]

i have big chunks of very compact domestic work that is priced cheaper than if i was going to just clean one house on a street i didnt otherwise clean in.it stops me from bein undercut and keeps everything close so hardly any travelling!

i do have some well priced scattered bigger accounts as well to mix my round up but i try and charge a fair price for me and the custy.

im certainly not a rip off merchant like some on here!!

£10 a house is too much to ask for a small 3 bed semi where i work!£6 or £7 tops.they just wont pay anymore as there are guys still cleaning for £4 with 3 lads with them so they still make it pay! : :

[dai]

I have suffered under cutters over the years, the cycle is nearly always the same.
1]Inexperienced newbie desperate for work compares his hourly earnings in his last job with what he can make window cleaning, he charges £7 for a £10 job, thinks at £14 an hour he's minted, and gets some work.

2] He begins to understand that other window cleaners are earning double his earnings, and it starts to bother him.

3] He feels that his customers are exploiting him and starts increasing his prices

4] just as he gets his prices up to the level he thinks they should be, some evil little newbie goes round undercutting his prices.
What goes round comes round, nothing changes.

[martinsadie]

I have suffered under cutters over the years, the cycle is nearly always the same.
1]Inexperienced newbie desperate for work compares his hourly earnings in his last job with what he can make window cleaning, he charges £7 for a £10 job, thinks at £14 an hour he's minted, and gets some work.

2] He begins to understand that other window cleaners are earning double his earnings, and it starts to bother him.

3] He feels that his customers are exploiting him and starts increasing his prices

4] just as he gets his prices up to the level he thinks they should be, some evil little newbie goes round undercutting his prices.
What goes round comes round, nothing changes.

[Ste M]

i went and priced up two houses yesterday, the last one i priced at £8, he said he was happy with that as he hadnt had them cleaned for ages as he never liked the last cleaner, i asked how much he used to pay and he said £6 and the fella were trad, i couldnt believe this as if i was cleaning it trad it would take at least 30 - 40 mins. it will take me max 15 mins. im happy an so is he, i also got his neighbour house as well

[The Jester of Wibbly]

just a point, and I know people may disagree, but rather than walking away from those customers, or charging even less, why not reduce the frequency of the visit.  Go every 8 weeks, so if you are charging 10squid, it worth 5 squid a month to the customer.  And you win as you keep the customer, and you dont have to work your nuts ofd for silly money.

I think if you do a good job WFP, the windows will stay clean anyway.

Sorry if anyone does not agree

[Platinum]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

I would look at cleaning more on the house like the garage doors or maybe facias ( I was asked twice when i had a wfp).
Last resort is to lower the price but ive found that the lower my price the more work i pick up thats compact. When i price high i am vulnrable to being undercut and at more risk of losing more money.

If i lost 2 customers @ £6 ive lost £12 worth of work.
If i lose 2 customers @ £10 thats £20 worth of work.
It will take far longer to build a larger round off high priced work. I prefere moderately priced and competitive

I clean houses for £5-6 a month on a council estate and it has grown rapidly as the other wc does these fortnightly for around £4-5. .I have picked up loads where they have seen they can save money with me. We get on great but customers always look for value for money and like now when there is alot of wcs out there prices get squeezed.

[Platinum]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

No ste that isnt me. Not sign written yet

[Dave Willis]

Platinum, are you in the construction business, running a brickworks, selling cars or finance this week?
I can never remember.

[Ste M]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

I would look at cleaning more on the house like the garage doors or maybe facias ( I was asked twice when i had a wfp).
Last resort is to lower the price but ive found that the lower my price the more work i pick up thats compact. When i price high i am vulnrable to being undercut and at more risk of losing more money.

If i lost 2 customers @ £6 ive lost £12 worth of work.
If i lose 2 customers @ £10 thats £20 worth of work.
It will take far longer to build a larger round off high priced work. I prefere moderately priced and competitive

I clean houses for £5-6 a month on a council estate and it has grown rapidly as the other wc does these fortnightly for around £4-5. .I have picked up loads where they have seen they can save money with me. We get on great but customers always look for value for money and like now when there is alot of wcs out there prices get squeezed.

do you only clean st helens then? massive council estates everywhere there. compact work is great for me, i will clean 23 houses tomorrow and only move my van twice, it makes you so quick its unbelievable

[Ste M]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

No ste that isnt me. Not sign written yet

spotted a transit van in st helens with platinum cleaning on it and it was window cleaning

[richard jagger]

There is a sad mistake in all price cutting that seems to go amiss to all.
The formula for all business is.
Price = value
We all know what a pound  is( price) and so on. The problem arises from the latter as value means different thing to different people. If we new what our clients wanted as service we could master value. This takes much skill and getting to know your client’s wants and needs.
If we made a list of needs for our customers we would find most have the same basic need and wants to compile there value list.
The think we can have a dramatic effect on the value telling them what value you as a company or window cleaner provide. We can be a little slack to blowing our trumpet, but if they do not see what you do extra it will have no effect on the value they receive and we need to reaffirm this all the time or from time to time. I had a business and chap worked for me that just seamed to coin all the business. One day I asked a customer what he had down that was so fantastic.  She replied about something that most trained workman would see as no benefit at all. The problem was she did not know that it had no advantage to her. He just said so. So educating what value is, and what benefit it would have to her, is very important.
How do you achieve this By telling them ( not selling to them) do it casualy and be relaxed.
Write it in all your adverts.
Draw there attention to what you do better and more.
Show them what you do more.
If you were mad and cleaned all her gutters free would this have added value.
 A  resounding.     NO!!!!!!       Until you drew attention to it then the value would increase dramatically. So don’t forget to get to know your subject we are not in the WINDOW CLEANING business we in the people business.
The moral of the story is inform them what you  GREAT at.


The Wizard Strikes again with a lesson in Business wizzzzzdom I am such a ass at times.

[Platinum]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

I would look at cleaning more on the house like the garage doors or maybe facias ( I was asked twice when i had a wfp).
Last resort is to lower the price but ive found that the lower my price the more work i pick up thats compact. When i price high i am vulnrable to being undercut and at more risk of losing more money.

If i lost 2 customers @ £6 ive lost £12 worth of work.
If i lose 2 customers @ £10 thats £20 worth of work.
It will take far longer to build a larger round off high priced work. I prefere moderately priced and competitive

I clean houses for £5-6 a month on a council estate and it has grown rapidly as the other wc does these fortnightly for around £4-5. .I have picked up loads where they have seen they can save money with me. We get on great but customers always look for value for money and like now when there is alot of wcs out there prices get squeezed.

do you only clean st helens then? massive council estates everywhere there. compact work is great for me, i will clean 23 houses tomorrow and only move my van twice, it makes you so quick its unbelievable

Yes ste its covered in them. I cleaned around 25 houses today but my most profitable estate is covered in terraced houses @ £2-£2.50 a front. Do you clean anywhere in st helens?

I do mostly st helens and some in widnes, warrington and maybe some up manchester in the next month or so maybe buying a small round off a mate in whiston. Ill go anywhere really

[Platinum]

Platinum, are you in the construction business, running a brickworks, selling cars or finance this week?
I can never remember.

finance ?

[Ste M]

so platinum how would you get more work then? you would drop your prices wouldnt you!!!! btw do you have a van with platinum cleaning on the side?

I would look at cleaning more on the house like the garage doors or maybe facias ( I was asked twice when i had a wfp).
Last resort is to lower the price but ive found that the lower my price the more work i pick up thats compact. When i price high i am vulnrable to being undercut and at more risk of losing more money.

If i lost 2 customers @ £6 ive lost £12 worth of work.
If i lose 2 customers @ £10 thats £20 worth of work.
It will take far longer to build a larger round off high priced work. I prefere moderately priced and competitive

I clean houses for £5-6 a month on a council estate and it has grown rapidly as the other wc does these fortnightly for around £4-5. .I have picked up loads where they have seen they can save money with me. We get on great but customers always look for value for money and like now when there is alot of wcs out there prices get squeezed.

do you only clean st helens then? massive council estates everywhere there. compact work is great for me, i will clean 23 houses tomorrow and only move my van twice, it makes you so quick its unbelievable

Yes ste its covered in them. I cleaned around 25 houses today but my most profitable estate is covered in terraced houses @ £2-£2.50 a front. Do you clean anywhere in st helens?

no mate, i tend to stay away from there, its just that little bit to far, i was thinking of going onto the new morris estate off the linkway as the people we bought our house off moved there and wanted a cleaner but im busy enough were i am to be honest so no point in upsetting or taking work from a local lad round there

[richard jagger]

What do you finance platts.